DreamerOfImprobableDreams

Half Life 4: The Search for Half Life 3

If this is actually Half Life 3… it kinda makes sense they waited for all the hype to die down, for it to fall out of meme culture, before releasing it. Even five years ago, the expectations for this game were astronomical. There was absolutely no way a game made by mere mortals could ever live up to that kind of hype. Now, people have chilled to the point they can actually appreciate Half Life 3 on its own merits.

Which is a long-winded way to say my bet is Half Life 3’s been done for at least 5 years now. Valve’s just waiting on the right moment to pull the trigger.

A lot of those 17 are dictatorships, where the elites are unsurprisingly big fans of Russia / Wagner helping them prop up their regimes. Actual normal people in those countries tend to be significantly more anti-Russia.

Yes, because in 2015 gay marriage was legalized.

I guarantee these people were absolutely as shitty about LGBTQ+ issues before 2015, they just talked about them less frequenly around you since they didn’t have to think about gay people too often. But I guarantee they were just as horrible towards gay people back then-- if not moreso, since they thought they could get away with the toxicity since no one cared-- as they are today.

Source: was woman with a ton of LGBTQ+ friends before 2014. Bigotry hasn’t gotten any worse since then, just louder. (And the good news is the reason the bigots have gotten louder is because more normies are becoming tolerant or accepting of LGBTQ+ people, causing the remaining bigots to realize they’re losing control of society and flip the hell out!)

Agreed completely. How is it possible people still don’t realize that with fascists, the cruelty is the point? Torturing minorities isn’t a distraction, it’s the goal.

Fair enough. I just get pissed when people like OP suggest bigotry only exists because Economically Anxious^TM people are being manipulated by The Elites^TM. Anyone who’s interacted with well-off people for longer than a few minutes knows being economically secure doesn’t magically make you not a bigot anymore.

And I hate the implication bigotry is somehow “less important” an issue than economic inequality. Especially since the two are so intimately intertwined, especially in the US, it’s impossible to make progress tackling one without tackling the other.

Or maybe fascists are just transphobic bigots who want to torture and kill trans people because, well, they’re fascists, it’s what they do?

You need to understand the far right doesn’t give a damn about economic issues. Not one crap. (Because most far-right supporters are middle-class or higher, for the record!) They want power for one reason, and one reason only: to lord it over the minorities they consider their inferiors, if not outright killing them.

This isn’t a “distraction”, it’s the fucking goal.

As if Putin didn’t already give us enough reasons to hate him.

He really is determined to follow in all of Hitler’s footsteps, huh. Well, hopefully he’ll follow Hitler right to the same ending.

I’m saying it’s among the biggest issues! A fascist regime going after one of the most vulnerable classes of citizens, how is that anything other than a colossal issue?

There is no “more important issue” than protecting fundamental human rights, including fundamental human rights of LGBTQ+ people.

This is completely false, going after trans people was literally one of the first thing the Nazis did.

LGBTQ+ people aren’t a “distraction” from “more important issues”, they are real human beings with real lives who fascists love to fuck with for no other reason than they’re bullies.

Good points, but even so I’d still rather have a less-than-optimal sub that still lined up with what the characters were saying in the dub, than having the two conflict with each other. (Maybe if you turn the dub off, the subs could be replaced with the better sub-only version?)

Thankfully, enough parties have pledged not to coalition with the far right that it looks like they’ll be boxed out of power. Most likely outcome seems to be Sanchez’s center-left party allying with further-left parties and regional / secessionist parties to form a minority government.

Things could still fuck up during coalition negotiations, but for now I’m cautiously optimistic. Probably the best possible outcome, given the circumstances.

(Also the far right party lost half its seats in Parliament, lmaoooooooo)

What the hell is going on in Europe that’s causing this recent surge in the far right? Seriously, fist Italy, then Spain, now Germany of all places.

Yeah, to be honest I’m a bit worried studios might use this technology to start changing lines in already released movies, so subtly only film buffs who know the film line-for-line would ever notice.

Even done for well-intentioned reasons (like removing slurs from old-timey movies) it would open up a whole moral and ethical can of worms about whitewashing the past. And I have zero faith in studios to do it for well-intentioned reasons-- especially not when they’re under pressure by religious fanatics, authoritarian governments, etc.

Also, for some reason the dub and subtitles use different translations, so the character will be saying one thing and the subs will read something completely different. It’s confusing AF. Often end up getting so frustrated I just turn off the dub and focus exclusively on the subs.

Yes. I said so explicitly in my previous comment.

This is the truth right there. Gas prices went up two measly dollars compared to normal in 2022, and everyone flipped the fuck out. People were prepared to elect Republicans-- fucking Republicans- to office, they were so furious about it.

And don’t @ me about “100 corporations are responsible for like 90% of emissions”. Who’s buying those corporations’ goods? Who’s refusing to vote for politicians that’ll meaningfully regulate these corporations? Who’s spending all day fantasizing about Da Revolushun^TM that’ll never fucking come (and would kill tens of millions of civilians and likely result in fascists winning and seizing control of your country, if not the whole thing splintering into a bunch of warring fiefdoms controlled by ruthless oligarchs) instead of getting to actual work trying to effect real change in the real world? And I don’t mean “direct action” (read: looking edgy and getting photos for the 'gram), I mean actually fucking getting policy passed that’ll have a real impact on people’s real lives.

The “something” he’s not denouncing is genocide, my dude.

Can you provide sources for this?

The source is that Russia murders its own oligarchs the second they fall out of Putin’s favor, and anyone who holds up a blank sign in protest of the regime gets shipped off to the front lines. No way that man would survive a second if he ever went against the party line. Which means he hasn’t done so.

It might make sense for him to self-censor to avoid angering one of the few places that are allowing him to stay but even that’s not a given: if he felt something needed to be said badly enough, he’s shown to be the type of person who would rather something be said and take the repercussions on the nose than to leave something unsaid.

And yet he’s happily kept his mouth shut about Russia actively committing genocide.

If I were him, I’d get on the next plane to the US and happily spend the rest of my life in Leavenworth rather than allow myself to become a propaganda tool for a bunch of genocidal fascists. The fact that he hasn’t done that speaks volumes about his character. None of it’s good.